Lady Blazers score come-from-behind road win

By: Andrew Towne - Updated: 4 months ago

Posted Jan 15, 2020

NEWCASTLE – The Torrington High School girls’ basketball team found itself down early, but a strong third quarter lifted the Lady Blazers to a 58-52 win over the Newcastle Lady Dogies on Friday evening.

Newcastle jumped out to a 9-0 lead and pushed it to as many as 16-4 before the Lady Blazers started to find their groove.

“We started slow, but once we got rolling, looked pretty good,” THS coach Jeff Halley said. “It is a tough place to play up there for some reason.”

Down 16-4, Torrington rattled off eight straight points to draw within 16-12 at the end of the first quarter.

By halftime, the Lady Blazers tied the game at 26, but in the third quarter, Torrington looked to put the game away.

The Lady Blazers outscored Newcastle 15-5 to take a 41-31 lead into the final eight minutes.

Newcastle made things interesting down the stretch, but Torrington was able to fend off the late run in the six-point victory.

The win was the first game of the season where the final score was within single digits, and Halley felt like his team’s experience was the difference.

“It was good to get a conference win under our belt and start off the new year the right way,” Halley said. “That is the first close game we have been in this season, and our experience paid off down the stretch to hold on to the lead the last couple minutes when it got tight and crazy.”

The Lady Blazers had not won at the Dogie Dome since the 2017-18 season.

Sophomore Reece Halley led Torrington with a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds.

All eight Lady Blazers who saw playing time Friday scored at least four points. Senior Sam Hill added seven, while seniors Chloe Krick and Dani Masterson tossed in six each.

The Lady Blazers open the home portion of the schedule on Thursday against the Mitchell, Neb. Tigers before traveling to Douglas on Friday.

Thursday’s game starts at 6 p.m., and Friday contest tips off at 5:30 p.m.

“Hopefully this win will give us some momentum heading into a tough week this week with Mitchell and Douglas,” Halley said.